Lesson3YourMoney.docx

Pre-lesson Narrow Reading for When less is more, L3 U10 M4 May 1st, 2019Text 1: Ant Forest: from virtual trees to real forestsChina is making concrete and innovative efforts to curb(控制) greenhouse gas emissions and build what officials call a “beautiful China.” The latest innovative measure comes from a mobile internet financial service company, the Hangzhou-based Ant Financial Services Group. In August 2016, the company launched a project called “Ant Forest” on Alipay, which is one of the countrys most popular online payment platforms. Combining the internet, finance and a low-carbon lifestyle, the project aims to turn virtual trees that users grow on the platform to real ones, thus contributing to tree-planting and environmental protection moves.But how does the project actually work? And what effects has it had? In the “Ant Forest” project, any activities on the Alipay platform by users that are considered low-carbon are counted and converted into virtual “green energy.” The activities include walking instead of driving, paying for utilities and buying tickets online, taking public transport and so on.The so-called virtual “green energy” generated by such activities will be used to grow a virtual tree in the users “Ant Forest” account. When enough “energy” has been earned to grow the virtual tree, its converted into a real tree, planted in the desert by people supported by Ant Financial and its partners. Bai Xue, Senior Researcher with Ant Financial, says the project is very popular with online users. “Via Ant Forest, we encourage users to stick to a low-carbon lifestyle, such as paying utility bills online and driving less. Currently, 230 million people are planting virtual trees on their mobile phones. “Technology, which can be used to mobilize the public, makes public welfare activities easier. If everyone is involved, we can easily popularize a low-carbon lifestyle.”So far, 230 million users of Alipay have activated “Ant Forest” accounts, according to the company. It is the worlds first green digital finance alliance according to Ant Financial. The company has said it will explore the possibility of rolling out the carbon account modeling on the “Ant Forest” project around the world.By the end of 2017, within China, Ant Financial says the project has so far planted 13.14 million real trees and 12111 mu (8 k) of forestland were adopted. They jointly plant trees and maintain forests in Alxa, Ordos and Bayannur in Inner Mongolia, and Wuwei in Gansu Province and other regions. They have planted nearly 12.14 million saxauls, 1 million willows, and 3000 scots pine trees.The country is predicted to increase its forest coverage to 23 percent of its total land mass within three years, according to a UN report.Text 2: China greens worlds horizonThe Earth has become greener over the past two decades. CFP地球变绿了，我们的“能量”没有白“偷”。词数 338 建议阅读时间 6分钟 测试见IV版 Some of you may play Ant Forest. It is a game on Alipay. Users collect “energy” to make their “trees” grow. When the “energy” reaches a certain level, some organizations and companies will plant a real tree in a desert (沙漠) area of China. And now it seems that the nations efforts as a whole to make a greener world have paid off. According to a study by NASA and published in the journal Nature Sustainability in February, China and India are mainly responsible (负责的) for making the Earth greener over the past two decades. The study has found that since 2000 the Earths green leaf area has increased by 5 percent, or over 5 million square kilometers. Thats an area equivalent (相等的) to the total area of the Amazon rainforest. It is mainly the result of big tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture (集约农业) in both countries, according to NASA. “China and India account for (占) one third of the increased greening, but contain only 9 percent of the planets land area covered in vegetation (植被),” Chi Chen, the studys lead author and a researcher at Boston University, US, told CNN. China was the major contributor, adding 25 percent to this increase, while India added 6.8 percent. Over the past decades, China has made great efforts to green the land. In 1978, China began a national-level forestation project the Three North Shelterbelt Forest Program, also known as the “Great Green Wall”. The program has seen many trees planted in 13 provinces and autonomous regions (自治区) in northern China to act as windbreaks (防风林), according to China Daily. By the end of 2017, the forest coverage rate among the regions of the project had reached 13.57 percent, compared to 5.05 percent 40 years ago. In the light of Chinas success in dealing with desertification (荒漠化), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) believes the country is a good example for others to follow. “China is one of the most successful countries in greening the desert and has lessons to share with the world,” UNEP Executive Director Erik Solheim told Xinhua.Beating back the desert Kubuqi Desert is a good example of Chinas efforts against desertification. The desert, which is near the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia, is the